New looks bridge the Gap
NEW YORK — Most Gap customers haven’t a clue who Pina Ferlisi is. Hollywood’s new It Girl? An Italian tennis star? The math geek in algebra class?
None of the above. Rather, Ferlisi is the reason they are wandering into a store they once passed by and admiring merchandise such as the melon-colored tiered skirt worn by model Alex Wek in the company’s recent ad campaign.
In the 15 months that Ferlisi has been Gap’s head designer, she and her young, close-knit design team have refined the clothes’ fit, enlivened the color palette, upgraded the quality and added fashion-y little details -- floral piping edging a denim jacket, bright scarves worn as belts -- to return some fizz to a label that had gotten flat.
Long the purveyor of iconic staples such as denim jeans, khakis and white T-shirts, Gap lost customers in droves a few years ago when it began pushing trendy, teen-oriented styles such as super-low-rise hip-huggers and glittery, tummy-baring pullovers. Now, with Ferlisi, a former designer for Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Jacobs, revving up Gap’s basics, the clothes have acquired a fresh appeal.
“What I’ve done is focus on style more than fashion,” the 39-year-old designer said recently as she sat in her all-white office in the Chelsea area of Lower Manhattan. “A lot of companies will take whatever is happening on the runway and knock it off and put it in their stores. My approach is to give the customer a look that is trend current but that everyone can participate in. Something casual, fun, optimistic and clean-lined.”
In a fickle, cutthroat industry where hyperbole is the lingua franca, Ferlisi is this season’s design darling, whose name is being trumpeted by a company that once preferred to keep its creative talent anonymous. Her fashionable-but-not-too-trendy clothes have helped pull Gap out of its rut, impressing Wall Street.
“Pina and her designers have done an outstanding job of bringing the fashion vision back to Gap and bringing customers back into the store,” said Mark A. Friedman, specialty retail analyst for Merrill Lynch. “We would hope she can continue to build on this momentum.”
Ferlisi’s aim is to make Gap the go-to destination for a “casual lifestyle” wardrobe rather than being a store you pop into just to purchase a polo shirt. She has expanded the line to include simple separates for work, flirty camisoles for Friday nights and cropped jackets and capris to wear while dropping the kids off at school. Her target customer is 18 to 35, but she insists that anyone with a “youthful spirit” can find something to wear.
The designer’s blend of style and sensibility has generated buzz from 7th Avenue to Paris, where the chic Colette boutique filled its windows with Gap corduroy bags during fashion week last fall. Editorial coverage in fashion magazines has nearly doubled from a year ago; Vogue displayed a $54 sorbet-colored trench bag alongside a pair of $495 Tod’s sandals, while Teen Vogue enticed junior shopaholics with a photo of Julia Stiles wearing a cropped denim jacket.
Positive buzz is fine, but having it translate into sales is even better. The trench bag (whose adjustable straps resemble the belt of a trench coat) sold out so quickly this spring that a new version is being churned out for summer. Pastel mini trench coats and colorful tank tops also were a hit with customers. And when the Gap website offered rhinestone-and-crystal “bling-bling” flip-flops for $58, they sold out in a few weeks.
“Gap clothes didn’t appeal to me, but now they really catch your eye,” said Karen Handley, 42, a Los Angeles public relations consultant. “I saw these adorable little sundresses in the window the other day, and I want to go back and try them on.”
Mona Maisami, 23, an account executive at Grey Advertising in New York, said she and her roommates frequently drop by the Gap store across the street from their apartment. “I used to not shop at the Gap that often, but now I’m buying a lot more stuff,” said the size 2 brunet. “I’ve been able to get a lot of stylish things for work that don’t make me look too old, like some of the stuff from Ann Taylor that my mom tries to push on me.”
Such enthusiasm has helped turn around the company’s bottom line. After more than two years of declining same-store sales, Gap posted a gain of 7% last year. And Gap Inc., the $16-billion parent company that owns Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, reported a 54% surge in net income for the first quarter of 2004.
Designers on display
Gap wants to infuse designer cachet into its boxy blue label. To raise its fashion profile, the company has begun showcasing Ferlisi and her top design lieutenants, all 35: Louise Trotter, formerly of Calvin Klein, is vice president for women’s design; Emma Hill, who did accessories for Burberry and Marc Jacobs, is vice president for accessories; and Steve McSween, who came from Club Monaco, is vice president for men’s design.
But don’t expect to read Ferlisi’s name in a celebrity gossip column or see pictures of Hill partying with Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of the company’s fall ad campaign. The designers come across as a congenial band of workaholics who project a down-to-earth, all-American image (even though Ferlisi hails from Canada and Hill and Trotter are transplanted Brits). They all wear Gap clothes, which the women artfully mix with a few cutting-edge pieces, such as a tasseled scarf or eye-catching mules. But by and large they look like a pleasant, unassuming bunch of thirtysomethings you would find at Starbucks.
Unlike many designers who dream of seeing their name embroidered on a label and trading air kisses with Anna Wintour backstage after a fashion show, Ferlisi, a mother of two who lives with her family in Connecticut, seems happy being Everywoman’s couturier. “In a designer company, you can move the needle on the runway or in magazines, and maybe a handful of people can wear the clothes,” observed Ferlisi, sporting a chic, choppy haircut and little makeup. “Here, I can make clothes accessible, fashionable and affordable. There is something really powerful about making things that are well designed at a price.”
The designers say they used feedback from customer surveys, focus groups and “fit camps” (where volunteers try on sample clothes and critique them) to find out what shoppers wanted. For men, it was stain- resistant shirts and pants that required no ironing. Women craved more feminine styles -- supple fabrics, a less boxy fit and flattering hues instead of androgynous navy and charcoal.
They responded by producing wrinkle-free cotton pants and cotton shirts that can withstand coffee spills for practical-minded males and giving women soft, stretchy sweaters, floral skirts and a rainbow of colors.
“Really, no one needs another bag or pair of pants,” said Hill, an effervescent blond with a mischievous grin. “It’s all about being innovative and fun and making you smile. That’s what we try to do.” Currently the designers are brainstorming for the summer ’05 collection, which they politely refuse to discuss. (A peek at Trotter’s “inspiration” board reveals a dollop of caviar on a slice of passion fruit.)
“Everyone brings the things they like, and we look at each other’s stuff and say, ‘Yeah, wouldn’t that be great for kids’ or ‘That’s a great detail for a bag,’ ” said Ferlisi. “We integrate the creative ideas right from the beginning so there is a sense of a coherent whole.”
For this summer, clothes revolve around a tropical island theme, with flouncy skirts, gold thong sandals and sunny colors like mango and lime. The fall collection plays with a town and country story line -- rustic tweeds, deep jewel tones -- to create a more citified look. Accessories, such as big velvet flowers and oversize tattersall bags that look like something Sherlock Holmes would have carried, provide a bit of whimsy.
In fact, Hill’s brisk-selling, playful handbags -- in cheery colors, decorated with buttons and charms -- underscore the company’s new message: Gap isn’t just a place to buy jeans.
That was exactly the idea that Donald Fisher, a real estate developer, and his wife, Doris, had in mind when they opened a jeans-only store in San Francisco in 1969. They called it “The Gap” (as in “generation gap”) and displayed Levi’s dungarees in precisely folded stacks along the wall, a system that continues today. The store rapidly expanded across the country. In 1974 they created Gap’s own brand of clothing; by 1991 it was the only label the chain sold.
When retailing visionary Millard “Mickey” Drexler became Gap’s president in 1983, he helped turn the company into a cult brand worn by everyone from college kids to movie stars. In 1996 Sharon Stone stunned the fashion world when she showed up at the Academy Awards wearing a black Valentino skirt, a velvet Armani coat and a $26 Gap mock turtleneck.
But there was a limit to the number of T-shirts and denim jackets even the most devoted Gap fan needed. And who wanted to come to work on casual Friday in a Gap polo shirt and see two colleagues wearing the same one? The company tried to broaden its market by catering to the capricious teenage crowd, only to alienate baby boomers who shuddered at puffy iridescent vests and skimpy, Britney-style bell-bottoms.
Getting back to basics
TO return the company to an even keel, Gap corrected its fashion faux pas by jettisoning its wacky junior styles and restocking its shelves with traditional khaki and denim. The company reached out to disaffected customers with a “For Every Generation” ad campaign featuring multigenerational celebrities -- Sissy Spacek, Salma Hayek -- in jean jackets, turtlenecks and other old favorites. Drexler left the company, and Paul Pressler, a former Disney executive, took over as chief executive of Gap Inc. in 2002. He brought in Ferlisi and her design team.
Last fall, Gap pitched its upbeat designs by teaming Madonna and Missy Elliott in a commercial promoting corduroy jeans in vivid colors. The performers displayed their personal flair in accessorizing their corduroys, which for the Material Girl meant spike heels and $20 million worth of diamonds and for the rapper, custom Nikes and her signature jewelry.
This fall, the company will continue to emphasize fashion. Parker, whose clothes-mad Carrie in “Sex and the City” made Manolo Blahnik a household name, will star in Gap’s campaign celebrating individual style. Jeff Jones, executive vice president of Gap marketing, added that the campaign will also feature other artists (whom he wouldn’t identify) to promote fashion items and to differentiate between the men’s and women’s lines.
However, Gap’s chicer aesthetic doesn’t appeal to everyone, especially longtime fans like Christine Taylor, 37, who was wandering through a Gap store in the Towson Town Center outside Baltimore.
“I miss the old Gap,” she lamented, leaving empty-handed. “They would have kept me forever if they had stuck to their basic khakis and white T’s.”
To be sure, even venerable houses such as Brooks Brothers and Chanel have updated their offerings to please both young fashion hounds and older traditionalists. It’s a difficult balancing act, but Ferlisi and her team appear eager for the challenge.
“We’re very proud of what we are doing, but we haven’t broken out the Champagne,” she said. “We never think in terms of ‘We did it!’ because there is always the next collection.”
